ONE. Set aside “1 career hour” a week.

– Participate in professional activities like workshops, summits, conferences, etc.

– Network with people that may someday offer or refer you to your next job

– Returning headhunter calls you’ve gotten to provide them with a referral to keep that relationship going.

TWO: It’s ok to steal (from something that is proven to work)

Why waste your time reinventing the wheel? Observe and apply all those practices that are working

Steal from other departments. Swipe from other divisions. Take from other firms. BE sure you give them credit then add your unique twist. If it’s proven and it works, why not? Bury your ego. Creating new stuff from scratch always take more time than you think and is highly overrated. (PaulSohn)

THREE: The 3 most important key in managing your poor performing employees:

– Clear expectations

– Documentation

– Feedback

A poor employee might just be getting poor direction. Make sure you present expectations clearly, keep track of his performance and provide them with feedback.

FOUR: Look into your turnover numbers

It’s not about how many you’re losing, it’s who your losing. Quality over quantity. Losing your top performing people is substantially more hurtful than losing people in any other group.

FIVE: Think Big

David Ogilvy, the well-known advertising wizard who founded the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency, never spent a day in HR, but had an orientation practice that all HR leaders would appreciate. He established a wonderful tradition of welcoming new leaders in his organization with a gift of five wooden dolls, each smaller than the other, one inside the other. When the recipient finally gets to the fifth little doll, the smallest doll, and opens it, he finds the message:

“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs, but if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”